A couple of weeks ago, during our special All Saint’s Day service, we heard some inspiring stories. All Hallows-ers Pauline and Emily, and long-time friend of All Hallows, the Imam and youth worker, Adam Aslam told us of their own favourite saints. Mahalia France joined them to talk about her father, Arthur France, one of the founders of the Leeds West Indian Carnival. Finally, Rachel Weston, cantor at Sinai Synagogue sang a song of peace. It was a service jam-packed with good things!
You can catch up on all of this via the link above. We’re also sharing Pauline’s story here (with Emily’s to follow soon):
Let’s face it – the words “trans” and “saint” are not often seen together. As a group trans people have been more often demonised than canonised. One however has been canonised: Saint Marinos or Marina the Monk who lived in the 5th century. Marina was raised as a girl but followed a calling to enter a monastery as a monk. He excelled in spiritual practice and virtue. While on a visit outside the monastery he was accused by an inn-keeper’s daughter of fathering her child. He offered no defence. Expelled from the monastery and living in abject poverty he brought the child up as his own. He was eventually re-admitted to the monastery on condition of performing hard and menial labour. It was only when he died that it was found he had been assigned female at birth. He has been adopted as a kind of unofficial patron saint by the trans community. His feast day is 18 June. There have always been trans people. Some have been saints.
I’ve been coming to All Hallows for two years or so as a refugee from a non-welcoming church. I have not found saints here: just people deeply committed to building a loving, outward-facing community which punches way above its weight in showing the Gospel in action to the people of Leeds. And with rare servant leadership that delights in making room for others to grow and flourish and contribute gifts they may not even have known they possessed. I have been welcomed, I have been trusted, I have grown and thrived. Perhaps there are saints at All Hallows after all…..
—Pauline Fleck